Free Show, Free Opinions.

This November 20, 2009 Ms. Jeppesen took my media class down to good old Toronto where we not only witnessed a live broadcast of Much On Demand but also someone getting arrested, someone yelling at us, and homeless people on the streets. Anyways to get back on track with MOD (Much On Demand) which is a famous Canadian television show teenagers can go watch for free and i've watched most of my life that discusses celebrity gossip happening in the media world. The storyteller or producer of Much Music is Moses Znaimer who also owns CTV. The purpose of MOD is to educate viewers on current news and events happening with celebrities,the world, our country, or small towns. MOD is happening live on television with two hosts or VJ's. They entertain the audience with music, gossip, get them to join in discussions and have funny VJ's. Anyone can benefit from this show most the most obvious are the creators of Much Music, the VJ's, celebrities and viewers.

I didn't see one clear message coming from Much On Demand as they talk about so many different things going on in our world. Although i did notice is that they want us youth of the world to share our opinions on topics we face everyday, the one on November 20th was about Kate Moss's statement which was models not eating to stay skinny. Some healthy messages i noticed about this statement was that the VJ's didn't agree with it and shared their opinion with us while discussing it. Yet, when one girl was asked to share her opinion live on the show, they made her rehearse her opinion then before we went back on air she had a totally new opinion they had given her. So it was like she was aloud her own opinion but when going on the air she had to say something they wanted people to hear. I found that the VJ's are also dressed very glamorous, nice, and appear to be "perfect" like they were put in those clothes just for the show to appear how the industry wants them to. Which is a good thing in a way because by showing the VJ's and opinions these ways it captures teenagers interests, which forces them to continue watching.

When i was at Much On Demand i felt as if they wanted to target teenagers mostly throughout the show because during our teens years our only cares in the world are about fitting in, music, celebrities, and our appearances. When we all were finding a place to sit in the audience they were strict about who could be seen during filming and unfortunately Ms. Jeppesen, her husband and Mr. Powles just didn't make then cut as they were "too old". I believe the biggest message Much On Demand is trying to show is how young people have a voice on what is happening in our world, with gossip, or even small town events. Although the one thing i don't understand about the show is why they call it "live" or "your opinion" when they made us rehearse everything down to just clapping, and making the one girl change her opinion for when we were actually on the air i found very wrong, its her opinion and she was entitled to it even if it might not be what they want people watching to hear. To verify my information i can always visit www.muchmusic.com to see what is going on with the show, or even call the Much Music headquarters. I learned that what you watch on TV you can never believe as everything is altered to what they think we "want" to see or hear, when in reality I'd rather watch the truth anyday.

"you aint nothing but a hound dog"

Boy were the 1950's an amazing time or what. I'm glad we got to do this era as not many people know a lot about it or think its boring, but with some research you can see how much it truly changed our society even today! Elvis Presley changed music and teenagers with his "rebellion" type of music and acting. Hanging out at diners or drive in's with your friends was what everyone was doing, and truthfully i wish i was born then! I knew before i made the documentary that i had to add all of the 1950's amazing music. I think our documentary had an overall fun, energetic, happy, and informative vibe. We didn't have a lot of videos of us in it, but i think the few we had did get points across. The pictures and videos added into our documentary were about popular things in the 1950's, such as the show "I Love Lucy" and popular dancing and fashion demonstrated in the movie clips from "Grease". If we could of dressed up and acted out things from the 1950's to show the fashion and fads it would of made our documentary much more interesting, but it was hard to get together and the 1950's clothes are not the coolest thing to wear right now. Also, editing clips together and putting music with them sometimes would be difficult to do but once you finally got it to go together it looked good, but then would have to change what you just edited on the storyboard, which was kind of time consuming. Even though we did not get to add many videos of us, i think our documentary was pretty good, seeing as it was about the 1950's not us. It showed the class good music, pictures, facts and video clips all from the 1950's era which was what we were trying to show from the beginning. It showed the class how much everything has changed over the last 50 years or so to what it is today.

Hmmm... And the other documentary's i saw were amazing! Some of them even looked like a real movie, those are some seriously good editing skills. All the documentary's showed me a good understanding of how things are the way they are today and how society changes based on television, music, celebrities, art and other technologies. I saw how every era something better would be invented like we had learned from precious attempts and then corrected ourselves and became smarter. These documentaries definitely gave me a good knowledge on how we need to make mistakes in technology to improve it and advance in our daily functions. I never knew all the things that happened in each era and it really amazes me how so much can happen over a 10 year period of time. The documentary's definitely helped me understand each era better than reading or writing an essay probably would of. I never knew our class was so talented when it came to making videos and editing them so the information go across in a perfect entertaining way.

A 1970's song comes to our time?

So i was searching YouTube for good songs to listen to when i came across Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and after watching the video i looked at comments saying she had copied this from another song made int he 1970’s by The Rubinoo’s. I decided to look up more information about this topic and also listen to the song by The Rubinoo’s “I Want to be Your Boyfriend.” I noticed sure that they actually did have a line or so that sounded quite similar to each others lyrics. Then i noticed that it also sounded similar to Tony Basil's "Mickey", about five words in Avril Lavigne's song and the Rubinoo's are the same and the songs are both based on the same topic. I think the songs are different in a way as one is about being a girlfriend and one being a boyfriend, but that is a common topic in life that is bound to be written and sung about. Avril stated that she had never heard of the song accusing her of copying, and as humans we only speak one language so its easy to have the same ideas. If all the words in the song were the same and just changing "boyfriend" to "girlfriend" I could see why it would be considered plagiarism. The rhythm and speed of both songs are different, and the only lyrics in the songs that are the same would be "Hey, Hey, You, You, I wanna be your boyfriend." and "Hey, Hey, You, You, I want to be your girlfriend." The topic is a very common and vague thing to talk about so your bound to have songs with similar lyrics as we all think alike in some way. I have heard in a lot of songs a common saying “wear my heart on my sleeve” and none of these songs have been accused for plagiarism as it is a common saying, and i believe saying you want to be your boyfriend or girlfriend is just another common thing to say. Everyone in some point of their lives has said “I want to be your girlfriend or boyfriend” its just something you use all the time in song or not.

The songwriters of “I Want to be Your Boyfriend” have stated Avril has plagiarised their lyrics which can truely affect the image her fans see of her. It can show how Avril doesnt take time to think of songs that her fans can relate to and want to hear, as she copied a song that has already been around for a while. Fans want to know that an artist they like is truely making her/his music from their hearts and passion not taking someone’s idea and singing about it. Songwriters did not want to work with Avril after this incident, although Avril believe that was just out of bitterness as she hadnt let them on her cd yet, which would soon effect career as she isnt making as many songs. Avril is sure of herself that she did not mean to copy or plagiarise this song in anyway as she loves to write music with great writers and musicians and wouldnt want to jepordize her career this way. The songs sure do have very similar lyrics but i truely believe Avril did not do this on purpose as the it is such a popular topic to sing about and wanting to be someones boyfriend or girlfriend is a common feeling and saying we use in everyday life.

Who wants this, me or my mom?

"Smile bigger! Stand up straight shoulders back! Look cute!" I basically hear those sayings every five minutes of my life. If I'm not practicing a routine with my mom, getting my hair done with my mom or picking outfits out with my mom, I'm usually sleeping. Ever since i was 3 years old I have been in beauty pageants, i cant remember doing anything else but beauty pageants. I couldn't tell you how many towns I've traveled to on weekends just for a pageant but up until now it all just felt like a normal life, and that i wanted it. But recently i feel like my mom wants to win a competition more than i do.
I mean I have never really had a childhood of just doing normal things with the other kids, i was always having to look my best or practicing my routines for competition day. Then on competition day it was just a day of having to look perfect and being judged by the way my hair looked, smile, makeup, or stance was. And to think of it what kind of sport was this anyways? More and more competitions i see little girls from ages newborn to 18 done up in all this make up, spray tans, fake teeth, and sparkly outfits. When were 3 years old do we really want to do this? Were we the ones that chose to be in beauty pageants, because i know when i was three i had no idea what was going on. My mom had brought me up into this hobby and lifestyle, i cant say i really had a choice in what activity, hobby or sport i wanted to be apart of. Now that I`m older i realized a lot about beauty pageants, and if i could of chosen a hobby or sport this would not of been one. Being made into some perfect little girl that your not and being judged on every little move you make just doesn't seem right to me. How can making 8 year old girls look like their 20 with all the make up and fake eyelashes or teeth on really be a hobby they choose.
Its like were always looking to be number one or perfect in life, trying to critic every little flaw our appearances have, when in reality no one is ever going to be perfect, someones always wishes they had something else that another person had. But moms in beauty pageants dont see it that way, its more of if you come in first and win the crown then you are perfect compared to the other girls you were against, your perfect out of all of them because the judges picked you. Then off to another competition with different girls to see if your seen as “perfect” there too. I feel almost as a trophy child like my mom can show me off to her friends telling them about how i won because i was prettier than all the other girls and their daughters dont have this to show. One day i hope girls that have been in beauty pageants since they were little finally realize if hey this is truely what they love doing for a hobby or if it is what your parents want, because at age 3 does the little girl really have a say in what she is doing with her life?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2469241/Mum-gives-daughter-adult-makeover-for-beauty-pageant.html

I didn't climb Mount Everest?

I never really thought my music would have come this far and I really just wanted to say thanks, all the support and love means a lot to me. Don't forget to buy my single on iTunes! But i do have something rather interesting to address to all of you out there. Not until recently i never considered myself a celebrity, but constant flashes directed at me seem to be a normal thing now. I remember my mom and close friends telling me about how one day i would have to deal with all of the paparazzi but until now i actually have had to use that advice. Yes, I'm a celebrity and I have to deal with paparazzi, but i had a really weird experience the other day. My friend and I were outside eating lunch while she noticed cameras in bushes across the street, which she believed were taking pictures of me. Which isn't that bad as we were out in public eating lunch, and come on they probably wanted a really embarrassing photo of me eating, to make fun of my outfit or something. But lets be real its not like i had climbed Mount Everest or anything worth being in the news about! As we got back to my house and were in my room, I noticed more cameras in the bushes in my backyard, pointed at my bedroom window? And then i thought why would you want to take pictures of me in my bedroom with my friend? We do anything normal teenage girls would do. I just felt like the paparazzi had gone to far trying to get pictures of me in my bedroom, because that is my private life. Like my mom and friends warned me "I am now in the public eye" which is true when I'm out in public, not in my house. That's why i don't mind going to a red carpet event and standing in front of all the flashes (kinda feeling like im at strobe light dance party) as it is a public event where a bunch of celebrities are at. And it seems like this generations is obsessed with what is happening in hollywood or gossip magazines so after red carpet events or award shows the photos usually end up in gossip magazines judging my outfit, hair, presence, or who i was with because it was a public event and your appearance is bound to be judged there. But in my bedroom is totally different and I'm sure regular people out there do embarrassing things in their private lives so why cant I? But if i do something embarrassing at a public event or just out in public I'm fine with you capturing that too! I try and connect with my friends as much as i can by making videos of me in my house and private life so I don't think the paparazzi still needs to bug, I'm just an average teenage girl that loves to make music! Which is why i dont see why everyone needs to see what i do that is odd or embarrassing in my private life because ive probably done it in public as well!