It's Crunch Time

Final exams and projects have temporarily taken over my life! First on the list of priorities is my final web project for Communicating on the Internet. I'm creating a webpage/news story about the nation's recent fight against trans-fats in the average American diet. With more time and resources, I would have loved to include a video interview with a nutritionist on campus. I think I'll be lucky to get some good audio to use. Whatever the outcome, I'll post the link to all the student projects for whoever may be interested. Until then, it's back to the Dreamweaver drawing board.

From block party to blog party

Bloggers can now accept their press passes with pride. CNN is hosting an election night blogger party for notable political bloggers to gather with their laptops and keep track of pour-ins from the polls. While most large news organizations do have an election 2006 blog of some kind, CNN's blog party shines the spotlight on independent bloggers and recognizes them as a bona fide media group. It will be interesting to see who follows suit.

be a concious consume(RED)

I've been a huge fan of Oprah for as long as I can remember. I don't agree with every single thing she says or does, but her shows provoke my deep thoughts and there's no way to ignore her presence in the global society. She did a show about two weeks ago dedicated to the new (RED) campaign (specifically a business model, not a charity) that several major retailers have adopted in an effort to raise money for AIDS assistance in Africa.

The whole deal is that consumers don't have to go out of their way to donate money to a charity that they see no results from. This isn't like buying one of those paper shoes for $1 so it can be hung up at a CVS check-out register (not that those programs don't do good stuff, that's not the point). Gap, Armani, Motorola, Apple and American Express are marketing unique (RED) products that fit the company's signature styles and passing a percent of the proceeds on to buy anti-retroviral drugs for those with AIDS. This month Motorola is releasing a new (RED) Razr, and Apple's got a (RED) iPod nano already in stores. All you have to do is buy what you would have bought anyway. Their website goes much more in depth, and it's definiately worth a looksie. The (RED) blog has been posting real people stories about where the money is going complete with pictures of once-sick and now healthy school children smiling from ear to ear. Check it out. I dare you to resist those little faces. So go shopping. This time it's totally justified.

A consumer note

And if anyone wants to get me an "It's the first of November" gift, this would be perfect. I'm not a huge fan of trance-y music, but the soundtrack to Project Runway just makes me feel fabulous, and would probably do the same for you. And who doesn't deserve to feel fabulous?

The Political World is a Scary Place

Withholding any opinion about Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's latest headlines, it's still a little frightening to think that saying one sentence could wipe your face all over national television and stamp your name on headlines all over the country. All hail the power of the media.