Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The end is near...

Only 2 weeks left of school and that is weird! As excited I am about getting done with this hectic semester, I am getting pretty nostalgic about school.

Ebertfest went great! You guys can check out all of our coverage at the217.com/movies_tv.

I got to meet Roger Ebert and his wife, and he signed my copy of buzz. I also got it signed by the producer of Let the Right One In as well as the Director and a star of Frozen River. It was a great, great weekend full of great films.

Favorite - Tie between Let the Right One In and Frozen River
Lease Favorite - Nothing but the Truth - it was really interesting up until the really disappointing ending.

Next week is my final issue of buzz, and I think that is going to hit me the hardest about graduating. Joining buzz was one of the greatest choices I made in college. It taught me what I wanted to do with my life. I made great friends, interviewed some amazing people and learned how to be an editor. Sad....

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ebertfest Begins

Ebertfest 11 kicks off tonight and I am both extremely excited for it, and can't wait for it to be over. It has been a lot of work organizing coverage for Buzz, but I think it is all going to turn out really well. If you are interested, keep checking the217.com throughout the weekend for constant updates.

Covering a festival like this will be great experience as an editor. It will also be the last big thing I do as Movies and TV Editor, so I want to do it right. I will have to employ all the skills I have learned at work and in class to make this run smoothly.

Here is a schedule of what Ebertfest looks like this year. Not really any standouts like in particular years, but I am EXTREMELY excited about Let the RIght One In.


WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22

7:00 pm
Michael Wadleigh, Director
Dale Bell, Producer
THURSDAY, APRIL 23

1:30 pm
My Winnipeg (80 min)
Guy Maddin, Director
4:00 pm
Chop Shop (84 min)
Ramin Bahrani, Director
8:30 pm Trouble The Water (NR; 96 min) Tia Lessin, Director, Producer
Carl Deal, Director, Producer
Kimberly & Scott Roberts
FRIDAY, APRIL 24

1:30 pm
Begging Naked (80 min)
Karen Gehres, Director
4:00 pm
8:30 pm
Frozen River (R; 97 min)
Courtney Hunt, Director
Misty Upham, Actor
SATURDAY, APRIL 25

11:00 am
The Fall (R; 117 min)
2:30 pm
Nina Paley, Director, Animator, etc.
6:30 pm
Rod Lurie, Director
Matt Dillon, Actor
9:30 pm
Let The Right One In (R; 114 min)
Carl Molinder, Producer


SUNDAY, APRIL 26
Noon
Baraka (NR; 96 min)
Mark Magidson, Producer
Ron Fricke, Director
Anybody planning on seeing ay movies?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Wikipedia

Lecture on Monday brought up the debate on whether or not Wikipedia is a reliable source for information.  Now, I love Wikipedia.  I spend way too much time looking up any random little thing I can think of.  The amount I have learned from Wikipedia is incredible, plus, I am not super awesome at Jeopardy.  

As for Wikipedia's credibility, I used to agree that it wasn't extremely reliable, but then I found this story: http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as-Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

A study found that Wikipedia is just as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica , and this makes me excited.  

While you can still find ridiculous things on Wikipedia, the fact that the information is almost as factual as the encyclopedia is a step in the right direction in making wikipedia a valiable source.

Hmm..maybe I just love the internet too much.


Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Moral Issues with Editing

My research for our paper due Monday has had me reading a lot about moral issues that come up with editing.  Not making up stories, sources and plagiarizing are all the main  issues - most of this seems obvious, but people still seem to want to bend the rules.

My research is actually crossing over to my work life, as I am having a problem with some moral issues with a few of my writers.  I won't describe the problem in detail because I am still investigating it, but it has been causing me a lot of unnecessary stress.  

One of the biggest things I have learned about being an editor is that you can not be afraid to be confrontational.  One of my biggest flaws is I am not a very confrontational person, about anything.  I hate to offend and I hate doing uncomfortable things like confronting my writers about things.  I quickly had to realize that it is not possible for me to make everybody happy, and in the end, not everybody is going to like me, and I am just going to have to deal with that. 


The word guerrilla (or guerilla) really confused me today.  I wrote it in my cut line for the photo of Jacob Zuma and just trusted Word in its spelling.  I put "guerilla," and got back the I misspelled it.  Words should have one spelling.  In a language like English that is already confusing enough with homonyms, multiple spellings of words should not happen.  English would be a super confusing language to learn if my first language happened to be Spanish or something.    

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Internet Headlines

After class on Monday, where we discussed internet headlines and keywords, I started investigating headlines used on the217.com. I wanted to see what keywords brought in the most hits to stories, and how people were finding their way to our site.

the217 has a surprisingly addictive statistics page that shows number of hits per article per day. Since discovering this feature, I have spent WAY too much time looking up random articles I have written or looking at what articles get the most hits on the website.

To my surprise, an article that is in the top five most visited articles everyday is the Beverly Hills Chihuahua review that one of my writers wrote back in October, 2008. Now, why is a review that old ALWAYS in our top 5? I do not believe that that many people care about that movie.

The only reason I can think that it gets that many hits is because of the headline, "Disney meets Paris Hilton." People searching for Disney, or Paris Hilton, will eventually find that article. Certain headlines can increase traffic dramatically.

Other extremely popular articles include the one on pegging (look it up at your own risk) and the buzz's most anticipated tv of 2009.

Man...I love the internet.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

When Words Collide

When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style has got to be one of the most useful books I have bought in college. In studying for the midterm we had today, I realized that my life would have been a lot easier these last four years with it. I really wish I would have bought it right when I became a journalism major.

Part Two, which is the Topical Guide to Grammar and Word use is so incredibly handy. Not only does it give you definitions of all the parts of speech, but there is a comprehensive list of words that are commonly misused. I will never misuse one of these words again as long as I have this book.

The among/between entry is probably the one that surprised me the most. I always just used those words interchangeably. Now, I know I was wrong. Extremely wrong. "Among relates to more than two persons or things, and between applies to only two."

I also was using convince and persuade wrong, which I am glad was in the book, because it was on the test today.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Printing Press

I had no idea what I was going to write this blog post about until I was walking home from Editing today and I hear this car honk at me. It was my editor-in-chief Tommy Trafton yelling at me to get into the car. I got into the car, saw that one of the buzz photographers, Abby, was there as well. I asked where we were going and got no reply. All they said is that I will know when I get there.

We parked in Champaign and started walking. I noticed we were headed towards the direction of The News-Gazette and began wondering what exactly we would be doing there. It turns out we were going to take a tour of the printing press where the DI and buzz are printed. We have one of our biggest issues of the year coming out tomorrow, so Tommy wanted to see it being printed.

It was a great experience to see where the papers are printed. We leanred that that printing press used to do the Chicago Tribune until last April when they lost the contract. I also learned that to print buzz, the printing press uses about 4 tons of paper.

It was great to see where the buzz and DI are born each day/week. Plus, te guy who gave us the tour was super nice. I reccomend checking it out if you can.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A little pick me up

After watching that video about the Rocky Mountain News going out of business on Monday, I have been thinking a lot about trying to get a job when I graduate here in May. Everything seems to keep reminding me that my journalism degree might not be worth that much when i go out into the real world and look for a job. Especially things like this: http://gawker.com/5163731/ten-new-jobs-for-j+school-graduates

While that IS funny..it is also kind of depressing. That is why, to cheer up all of the Journalism majors stressing about trying to get a job, I present this video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=581_1236064812

If those ducks aren't afraid to jump off of that tree, then I am not afraid of finding a job.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Would you print these?

Out of all four of these pictures, I feel that only two of them are suitable for print: 1a and 2a. The other two, even though they conjure up more emotion than the first two, are a little too graphic to run in print. Deciding which is more print worthy out of the first two comes down to which picture captures what is happening better. After some quick mental deliberation, I would have to go with picture 1a:








Picture 1a shows enough to get the story across, but not enough to gross out or possibly offend those who look at it. You can see the despair in his eyes and the fear in his body as his hand reaches out to push back anybody that comes close to him. The picture definitely tells the story.

This is of course if I HAD to pick one of these photos to put in print. The whole subject matter might be a little too risky to put in print. A.) It could offend or disgust readers. B.) This is a very delicate situation and could bring emotional strain to his family.
These pictures are a powerful asset in telling the story, but it is a touchy situation in choosing whether or not to run them. I would never run the final two (even though they probably convey the story/emotion the best), and I would only run one of the first two (most likely the first) if it was completely necessary.


I am actually kind of disturbed by some of the photos in the second group, especially the final one - that is just unacceptable behavior. I would definitely not run that photo. It is way too graphic and inappropriate for print.

All of these photos are very powerful images and most are extremely sad (especially the boy and his dog). They all show great emotion and help tell the story, but some of them might be a little too invasive into the privacy of the subjects.

The second photo of the boy who drowned documents the loss and suffering on his family's face. It makes for one hell of a photo, but printing the photo may just rehash feelings of loss and despair.

The boy on the spike I would print in a heartbeat. It is an interesting story coupled with a great picture - plus, the kid ended up being OK.

I think the biggest problem I have with picking pictures is I don't like to offend people if it isn't necessary. Some of these pictures could possibly offend and it makes it hard for me to come to a complete decision.


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

ICPA

The 27th Annual Illinois College Press Association Conference is this weekend up in the merry city of Chicago. A few other buzz staff members and I will be leaving this Friday morning to head up there. I really don't know what to expect, except having a good time in the hotel room we have reserved.

One of the conferences I am really looking for is "How to be a Quote Whore in 10 Sleazy Steps:
Its description: "A veteran film critique offers a guide to what passes as film criticism in the 21st Century"

This seems right up my alley.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Oxford Comma

The Oxford Comma has taken over my life over the last few semesters.  In highschool we were always told to put the final comma in a series of three or more.  Now that I am drowning in AP style and indie music in college, that comma has gone missing.

And, much to my surprise, I constantly have debates with people about whether or not to use it. Mostly with my roommate.  I for one have grown to like not putting the final comma.  It just seems like an unnecessary pause for the most part.  It doesn't bother me when people use it, I will just change it if it needs it.  People misusing irony is really what bothers me and that happens ALL THE TIME.   

From what I have seen though, everybody uses it.  Most of my writers continuously use it out of habit even after I tell them that our style guide says we don't use the last comma.  I think it has been driven so deeply into each of our brains that we don't realize we are using it.    

How do you guys feel about The Oxford Comma?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Anti-Senioritis

This is my last semester here at the U of I and I always imagined that I would have the biggest case of seniorirtis ever, but the opposite is actually true. I am going to all my classes, getting there on time (mostly), doing all my homework and most importantly, not procrastinating has much as I did the last 3.5 years. Why did it take me this long to become so motivated? Oh well, better late than never, I suppose.

I have been an editor at buzz Magazine (Movies and TV) for almost a year now and I am just now taking JOUR 420. This really hasn't caused too many problems with my editing, but I imagine it owuld have made my job a bit easer. I probably should have done that much earlier, but it never fit into my schedule the way I liked it to. Oh well, better late than never, I suppose.

Now, to talk about things I know a lot about - Movies and TV.

TV reccomendations:
Pushing Daisies - Why don't people watch genius shows? They always get canceled way before their prime. It happened to Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks, Firefly and now Pushing Daisies. I highly, highly reccomend this show.

Fringe - For the Sci-fi fans out there. The first 8 or so episodes range from mediocre to "meh," but after that, it gets really good. It is definitely worth sitting through the first episodes to get to the awesomeness.

That is about it. Oh sweet, Lost is on tonight.