Sex sells even on Nickelodeon

In case you were wondering who the black silhouette is, you'd be surprised to find out that this tween is the grown up version of a bilingual little girl on Nickelodeon who solves mysteries with her best friend Boots the Monkey.

Maybe this picture might help you figure out who the cute little girl is:




That's right Dora the Explorer!

I'm not saying I watched a lot of her because I was already a little too old for her show in 2000 when she became a Nickelodeon regular, but there was a day in high school when I had the stomach flu and watched a "Dora the Explorer" marathon while I tried to get better. I liked what I saw. Her cute little outfit (I mean look at those adorable socks that, dare I say, I had when I was in kindergarten), her backpack (it is full of goodies that help her on her adventures) and her best friend Boots are perfect for a good show for children. She is just a little girl that goes on adventures and keeps children entertained for a little while. No harm done in showing Dora to kids when she's so cute.

She was an empowerment to little Latina girls who spoke Spanish and lived in the American society. They felt they could go and solve mysteries and go on adventures. There are even are Dora talking dolls that teach kids phrases in Spanish, like "We did it! Lo Hicimos" and "Hola! I'm Dora" when you squeeze her tummy. Everything needed for a good childhood memory.

However, after almost 10 years on the air, Mattel and Nickelodeon decided that it was time for Dora to grow up and look the part too. In a press release it was decided that Dora was going to be older and exciting. She now, "has moved to the big city, attends middle school and has a whole new fashionable look." She's a tween now who should appeal to older girls who have grown up with Dora on TV. From a marketing point of view this is brilliant because now Mattel can appeal to older girls and won't lose a large market sector. Dora the tween has an internet community, a new environment, where girls can go and play and hang out with the other Explorer Girls. There are even neighbors whom Dora is friends with. She can go to the beach, go shopping and go to middle school where exciting things happen.

By buying the new Dora doll girl can plug her into their computers via USB and install the software and then play with Dora online. Her eye color, hair length and jewelry change based on the settings on the computer. These are not the dolls I used to play with.

Also since when do tweens look so flawless? We all learned in class that sex sells, but what I don't understand is why Mattel thinks that sex sells within the 12 year old market. Middle school is the time to be awkward and kids go through puberty which is one of the most awful times in one's life.

But now this new Dora is pretty, has flowing hair, a cute matching outfit (even at 20 years my outfits do not match and look awful) and a skinny body. What does this say about body image in tween girls? Are all 12 year olds going to try to be skinny and match their outfits when they go to school?
Are all girls going to look like this when they go to school?

She's still adorable and we can see that little Dora has grown up but she is no longer a little girl who solves mysteries but a tween who lives in an online community. It scares me that little girls (the doll is targeted towards girl aged 5 and up) will look at this doll and think that looking like this is normal when they are 12 or 13.

The good thing about this is that Dora is just a doll with an online community. The Dora on TV is still a preschooler that hangs out with Boots and solves mysteries. Maybe it will stay like that and little girls will be able to enjoy their childhoods a while longer.

Creativity is just dead

I saw Twilight a few days ago and I really liked it. But I am a Twilight fan and I was excited for the movie to come out.

However, going to see Twilight made me think about the creativity in Hollywood. It took a vampire a movie with cute costars and a lot of half naked Taylor Lautner, to bring in money and fans to the theater. Where is the creativity? Always sex and violence in the theaters. Don't get me wrong, I love to watch an action movie with explosions and fighting and then the hero gets Maghan Fox at the end and they kiss. Nothing wrong with that, but after 20 years of being on this planet and a great majority of it spent on watching movies and TV, I'm getting bored of the same old story. Fighting, explosions, sex, more fighting and then more explosions and then a kiss to end the movie.

It upsets me that money has taken over and we do not get quality movies anymore. Reading about old Hollywood where stars like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were seen as stars that got some of the best movies. Movies were written for them and were innovative and fun.

Now, when I watch movies like "Sabrina" or "Roman Holiday" I see where current movie makers get their ideas from. ''Roman Holiday" was made into a million variations. "First Daughter", "Chasing Liberty", a 1987 made for TV movie with the same name, a 2001 musical, A Gossip Girl episode named after the movie and so on. All of these ideas are recycled and over done.

Now the new thing to do is to take video games and turn them into movies. "Resident Evil" has been a big success for years and the production company will be releasing another film in 2010.

Another action movie with more violence and more sex. Not a big surprise but it's still upsetting that once again, there was no creativity. Production companies are using recycled ideas once again in order to get movies out fast and make money. I really wish more and more production companies would try to find screenplay writers that have innovative ideas and make new movies.

I wonder why they are recycling ideas. Is it lack of creativity or is the different collaborations and vertical and horizontal integration that are the causes for recycled movies. Maybe the fact that departments are getting cut means that less and less people are working on producing new movies.

I really hope someone will be able to come up with a new idea and actualy produce it. I know there is enough material out there to make a good quality movie.

Until then I will just stick to watching HBO and going to the movies when I see a fun romantic comedy.

Will my status about Turkey Day save me from a crime?

In a recent New York Times article it was reported that a 19 year old man in Brooklyn was declared innocent because of a status on Facebook. He had been accused of burglary but since his status was written at the time of the crime, he was provided an alibi. His defense attorney had used this and other witnesses to prove that Mr. Bradford was innocent and had not committed the crime.

I really liked the article because it is an interesting idea to see that Facebook is no longer for entertainment of for people to improve their persona. Social networking sites are now becoming a part of life and the laws have had to change or mold around them. Lawyer can now use SNS to help with alibis or maybe for prosecution purposes.

The article gives more examples of other instances where an SNS was used to prosecute individuals or find evidence for further investigation or consequences.

Everyone at Hamline has told me to be careful about the things I put on my profile on Facebook because of my future. Until I became and NSM, I had not realized how important my profile was. The whole school can see my profile and what I put on there, negatively or positively influences my future. Jobs, internships and different positions can and will be put in jeopardy by the things I post.

In out class discussions on SNSs we all came to the conclusion that they were used for entertainment and to satisfy our needs and wants in a a fast way. Also my research topic is on the need for people, today, to be able to have an emotional shield when they lead their every day lives. Through text messaging and SNSs people will lead their lives in such a way that they can have relationships and a social life thorough a screen and never have to be hurt emotionally if things do not work out how they wanted them to.

I love my Facebook and I don't think I would ever part with it but after class discussion it made me realize that maybe I was addicted to it a little bit. So I tried to stay away and not update it constantly and not check on my friends at all times.

However, now that I have read this article, I'm not always going to rag on SNSs because maybe they can be part of our lives, as long as we have self control and know what we're getting ourselves into.

Next time when I update my status maybe I'll think about how it might be used as an alibi for a crime that I did not commit.

Facebook and Youtube my new news channels...

Where were you when you heard of Taylor Swift's sad encounter with Kanye West?
I know where I was! I was sitting at my desk trying to write a paper and doing what every good college student does on a regular basis: checking Facebook.

As I was checking Facebook, everyone in my news feed started to change their statuses to different variations of not so nice words to Kanye West. From profanity to disappointment these statuses told me something was wrong. Again, instead of doing my homework I decided to investigate and see what had happened. After checking Google news and CNN I decided to turn to Youtube. After a few search terms and a few clicks I watched Kanye's rant about Taylor Swift in high definition a mere 10 minutes after it had happened.

I did all of this without moving from my desk, or from my chair. All in a matter of minutes I had gotten my information, discussed with a few people and had gone back to my homework.

When it was time to talk about real news, I had no idea what happened outside of campus but I sure knew about Kanye and Taylor and I could carry an extensive conversation about the incident.

That is when I realized that too many times I had used Facebook and Youtube to get my information, right or wrong, without really trying too hard. Either from my bed or my desk all of this information was at my fingertips on two websites that at first were there for entertainment but now are my sources of information.

When people post news articles, videos and images, I immediately click on them and they lead me to a wealth of information. Sadly, I don't need to open a newspaper, watch the news or actually go looking for my information because one of my friends on Facebook has already done it for me.

The other thing about Youtube and Facebook and all of the other things like Twitter (which I use to stay in touch with Romanian friends and news), Flickr and MySpace, is the fact that people are taking control of their news and they are making something news worthy within minutes.

For example just last weekend I was sitting on the couch with my roommates watching a movie, when I checked my Facebook and again 2 or 3 people had changed their statuses to something about Adam Lambert. I vaguely remembered the name so I googled it for a few seconds, found out he was on American Idol, then remembered the drama about his sexuality. Then I realized that he was on the American Music Awards that night and just a few minutes before me seeing the status updates, he had been on stage. So after searching on Youtube for a few seconds, I found the following video:

(before you watch it though, make sure you know it has some sexually explicit images, which had to pass the Suda test :) )



In case you did not want to watch the whole thing, let me just summarize it for you. Lambert takes the stage, does some crazy dancing, one of his male dancers pretends to perform fellatio on him after which Lambert dances a while longer and then he proceeds to make out with his male keyboardist after grabbing another dancer's crotch.

Now I am not really going to try to talk about all of the issues that arose from that and why he did it. I don't want to speculate and assume things but what I will talk about is the impact it had.

Minutes after it happened, it was on Youtube, Facebook, the news and in my living room. I had put it on my roommates' walls and we were all watching it at once commenting on it.

Now I understand why he did it. If one person sent it to another three and the other three sent it to another three..well that's like...well a lot of people that saw it that night (I'm not that good at math, that's why I'm a global studies major). And if your main purpose is to put rumors at rest, get famous and have people tlaking about you, well then that's the way to do it. Go on national television, do something outrageous and you're famous.

I applaud him for his courage and for using the media to his advantage. He is now famous, not only in the U.S. but also abroad. If American Idol didn't make him famous, Facebook and Youtube certainly did.

I really do think that I have to break this cycle of getting my news from Facebook. Maybe I'll learn something about the world...Meanwhile I think I have to go check to see if someone commented on my status.

Politico.com the revival of journalism?

From left, Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei, editor in chief John Harris, publisher Robert Allbritton, and chief White House correspondent Mike Allen at Politico’s offices. Photograph by Gasper Tringale.

In the age of convulsing newspapers, Politico.com is a good alternative to political news.

Two reporters from the Washington Post left the famous newspaper to cover the 2008 presidential. John F. Harris and Jim Vandehei became editor-in-chief and executive editor respectively of the website and later the newpaper that has become one of the main outlets of information for political news.

With its new ways of reporting with blogs, Twitter and articles, they were one of the front runners in the 2008 elections with information and commentary. In September of 2008, it was reported that Politico would not only be a "small" website but a full fledged news organization with reporters, photographers and a full staff.

What is impressive about it is the quantity and quality of news it produces. With a total staff of 100, 75 of which are the editorial staff, this organization has become the place for news outlets like CNN and other websites to get their information and trust that it is balanced and fair.

In a recent Vanity Fair article from August 2009, Politico was profiled as the new way to do news.

The article talks about how CNN changed the time it takes for something to becom news and for people to react to it (the news cycle) from the 48 hours that was normal for newspapers, to a mere half a day. However with Politico in the arena, the news cycle has changed to an astounding 15 to 20 minutes.

For Politco to be able to get news to the masses faster than ever, the staff requires all of its reporters to carry a camera and look for the "backstories"something the mission statement defines as, "those that illuminate the personalities, relationships, clashes, ideas and political strategies playing out in the shadows of official Washington."

I really do like the idea of The Politico. No longer are we getting the same old, same old news that we have been getting for hundreds of years. With the use of different technologies, like Twitter.com, Facebook.com, videos and real life chatting that makes this website one of the most visited political websites around.

Also with its daily publication in the D.C. area and its full ads, the organization has made enough money to sustain itself and make money in a world where print media is not very successful. That to me speaks volumes because it means they are doing something right and are giving me hope for the future of journalism and news-making.