Blog entry 3

20 September 2011

08h00

Blog entry 3: Inspiring viewing

Sifting through all the garbage on TV these days lead me to discover some pretty inspirational shows, the shows that give you goose bumps and could possibly make the proudest man squeeze a tear or two. “Secret Millionaire”, “Who do you think you are?” and “Extreme makeover home edition” are all extraordinary examples of the shows that change lives and make you want to be a better person.

“Secret Millionaire” documents a millionaire in Britain who goes into a less fortunate community and lives the life of some of these people, at the end of their visit they donate large amounts of money to the most deserving people they have lived with. The secret millionaire often leaves the show with a little less money but a lot more compassion and caring.

“Who do you think you are?” is also a brilliant show that helps a celebrity track down their roots and heritage. The show often takes them out of their home country into a different part of the world they knew nothing about. This show truly does open your eyes to the big world that you never knew you were a part of.

“Extreme makeover home edition” is one of those shows that you cannot turn off once you know the tragic story behind the family, presenter Ty Pennigton, is going to help. The team travels around America looking for families who are in desperate need of a life changing experience to get their lives back on track. Ty and his team demolish the family’s old home and rebuild them a home of their dreams. In my opinion, it is some inspiring viewing.

What would you say your “feel good show” is?

Blog entry 2: Those were the days...

What happened to the days of good old innocent children’s TV viewing? …

Back in the day children would look forward to watching half an hour of a cartoon once a week, on a Saturday afternoon. The rest of the week the children were outside playing in the sun on their bikes. All time favourites among South African children included Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Roadrunner and Tin Tin. In the early days, children watched innocent, fun and often educational cartoons with very basic graphics and animations, and they loved them!

As time went on the graphics and animations become better, the TV’s improved and the cartoons started to change too. Gone are the days where children have a specific cartoon to look forward to as they are spoilt for choice with all the different channels and cartoons to choose from. Not only did the amount of options change but so too did the content and messages behind the cartoons. Personally speaking I am appalled at the absolute garbage Cartoon Network chooses to broadcast to children, whose brains are like sponges and absorb anything they see or hear.

After sitting and watching some of the cartoons broadcast to children on DSTV these days I am afraid to say that there is little left of the innocent, educational and fun cartoons that used to watch. Falling weights, spitting, fighting, hitting and disrespect are all a part of the viewing choices of today’s youth. No wonder children are getting more and more aggressive as time goes by.

…That’s what happened to good old innocent children’s TV viewing!

What was your favourite cartoon when you where growing up?

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Television blog entry 1

19 September 2011
09h30

My name is Samantha Parrish and I am currently studying journalism at UJ and LOVING it! I love writing, reading, partying and spending time with friends and family. My passion has always been journalism and I WILL work in the fast paced industry one day. As much as I love the degree I am doing I cannot wait to get out into the big, bad world and start a life for myself! I hope you enjoy my blog, feel free to leave some comments ;)

BLOG POST 1: Living in a "real" world

“Keeping up with the Kardashians”, “Ice loves Coco”, “16 and pregnant” and “Jersey Shore” are currently reality shows that are broadcasting weekly on MTV and E. These shows document the lives of the rich and famous, in my humble opinion some are only famous for being famous. These shows give us the feeling and false hopethat we too can live these lives that we watch religiously on television every week.

Keeping up with the Kardashians and Ice loves Coco documents the lives of the upper crust of society whose lives revolve around photo shoots, spray tanning, family drama, celebrity parties and most importantly, money! In other words, their lives revolve around all the things that us normal people only dream about. 16 and pregnant airs on MTV every Sunday and documents the lives of teenage girls who fall pregnant and their struggle to raise their babies as single, school going teenagers. To put it quite bluntly, it glamorises teen pregnancy and gives it a sense of acceptability in society. And finally, Jersey Shore gives us a look inside the wild lives of young adults who are living in Italy. Their lives consist of waking up when the rest of the world are finishing work, getting into fights, sleeping around and partying and getting drunk. Not really the kind of show any parents would approve of.

I believe that these shows make people want to try live their lives through someone else’s. These lives look fun, glamorous and easy compared to our, often mundane lives- lives in which we have to actually work for our money. The scary thing is that everyday people aspire to live the lives of the rich and famous when in reality, it is nearly impossible. Whether these shows should be broadcast and whether they add any moral fabric to society is a total matter of opinion.

Do you feel that these shows add any value to their viewers? Leave me a comment :)

TV Blog assignment

I have been asked to keep a blog for three days relating to TV so the next three blog entries are going to be for my degree :) Hope you enjoy them ;)

Perfectly imperfect **

I sometimes cry for no reason and I sometimes cry for all the right reasons.

I don’t always put you first because sometimes I deserve to come first.

I often over react but there shouldn’t be a penalty for that.

I might lose my temper at you when you choose to go out instead of stay home with me.

I might tell you I hate you when in fact I love you with everything that I am.

I might prefer to lounge around in a tracksuit instead of get dressed up and go out.

I will sometimes get upset with you if you don’t open up to me and let me know how you feel.

I might need you to put me first sometimes when I feel sorry for myself.

I could possibly tell you to go when I want nothing more than for you to stay.

I might shout at you when we are fighting and bring up past fights.

I might do all these awful things to hurt you and make you feel unworthy...but I'm not perfect, your not perfect. Love is not about falling in love with a perfect person...its about falling in love with an imperfect person and seeing them perfectly**

"At the end of the day if we can't handle each other at our worst then we most definitely don’t deserve each other at our best" *

xoxo

I miss you more and more everyday my Gran ♡ ♡

Wish that you were still here xoxo

Watch over us always beautiful angel

Adele-Make you feel my love

♡

When the rain is blowing in your face,

And the whole world is on your case,

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love ♡ ♡

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,

And there is no one there to dry your tears,

I could hold you for a million years

To make you feel my love ♡

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,

But I would never do you wrong.

I've known it from the moment that we met,

No doubt in my mind where you belong ♡ ♡

I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,

I'd go crawling down the avenue.

No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do

To make you feel my love ♡

The storms are raging on the rolling sea

And on the highway of regret.

Though winds of change are blowing wild and free,

You ain't seen nothing like me yet ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.

Nothing that I wouldn't do.

Go to the ends of the Earth for you,

To make you feel my love....

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

A little advice from me *

Live every day to the full. Tomorrow is not a right, it is a gift

Appreciate the small moments that you wouldn't normally notice

Sometimes you don't realise the pain you cause with your words...until it's too late

You will never truely live if you keep waiting for your life to end! Go out and live every minute

It is never worth forgetting someone who once made you happy. You wouldn't want them to forget you

Work at achieving your dreams, every day, every hour, every minute and every second! Live your dream

You will never realise how unpredictable and volatile life is until you lose someone that you never had the chance to say "I love you" to

Cherish the people around you. Tell them you love them. Tell them you care. Because at the end of the day material things are perishable and only love remains

**~beautiful little souls~**

My beautiful children at Just One Child have touched my soul and changed my life. The pleasure I get from this volunteer work is priceless. The simple smile on a little face reminds me that I need to appreciate the small things in life. I find that these days children are so quick to complain about the house they live in, the clothes they wear and their “nagging” parents…but what they tend to forget is that there are children out there wishing for a warm place to sleep, a pair of shoes on their feet and the loving words of a mother or father.

Take a second out of your day and thank God for putting you in the position you are in!! Helping the children at Just One Child really has made me appreciate the life I have been given. Every child is in need of love, attention and a chance at a better life. Not once have I heard them complain when they were given a plate of vegetables, a second hand t-shirt or a box of crayons but I am frankly sick and tired of hearing the complaints of people who may as well have all the riches in the world.

Look at yourself in the mirror one morning and try and convince yourself that your life is hard, I dare you. Then go to a children’s home and look at the huge smile on an HIV positive child’s face when you give them the cheapest gift in the world-love! If that doesn’t change your outlook on life, then nothing will!!!

“What we do for ourselves dies with us – what we do for others remains and is immortal”

That 4 letter word *

LOVE~that four letter word. The word some dare not say. The word that some say to light heartedly~*~

Everyone is scared of love but love should not be feared...it should be respected, handled with care and treasured ♡♡ So often people go through life trying to find the one that will love them in return for their love but this is the wrong way to go about looking for love. Love cannot be captured, it cannot be kept, it is not a possession, it is not a right to be loved, it is not always easy to love and love is not something we can find. Love will find us, love will change us and love will help us grow.

Don't fear love! Love is pure and good. Fear the things that change love, fear all that hurts love, fear what makes us lose the ones we love...DON'T fear love ♡♡ ♡♡

"Everyone says that love hurts but that is not true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Everyone confuses these things with LOVE but in fact love is the only thing in this world that covers up all the pain and makes us feel whole again" ♡

Frozen Memories ☮

I have always loved photography, even if I'm not so great at it. There is simply something magical about being able to freeze a precious moment and keep it forever ♡♡♡♡ With just the click of a button you can save a memory of near anything...Photography captures the beauty in even the ugliest of things and gives light to the darkness in a scene! Photography is magic, it is joy, it is happiness and it is forever ♡♡♡♡♡

PHOTOGRAPHY~gives you the option to freeze a memory *

Guide to surviving South Africa: Hawkers

In second year we were asked to keep a blog for a week and I have decided to share my 5 posts with you over the next few days. I hope you enjoy them ;)

Hawkers everywhere!!

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the fact that no matter where you go in South Africa, city or informal settlement, you will find a hawker of some kind on every sidewalk. Now, you have to realize that even though you might not want your windows washed with murky water or you might not need a “good quality” copy of a DVD that is still on the circuit, the people trying to sell these products are trying to make a living. There are a few ways to handle these characters as they try and sweet talk you into buying from them

Firstly, it might be wonderful to drive with your window open as you go about your business, however when you approach a stop street or a robot it would be a great idea to start closing your window. I have found that this works well if you do not want a sample shoved through your window

Secondly, I have discovered that it is your best bet to refrain from making any eye contact. The hawker is now rapidly moving up to your window waving some kind of bizarre object in the air for you to see. Experience has shown that if you pretend to be involved in changing your radio station the hawker will eventually get tired of waving at you through the window to catch you attention and move on

Lastly I would just like to add that being rude is not a good option at all as the hawker is more likely to throw the object at your window than politely move on to the next car. So for those of you who where thinking of taking on a hawker in South Africa - think again! On a lighter note, if you would like to purchase something from a hawker just smile and wind down your window and you won’t have to ask twice!

The Bang Bang Club

"They're right. All those people who say it's our job to just sit and watch people die. They're right" -Kevin Carter

As a photojournalist there is always contraversy surrounding the ethics behind the picture. The Bang Bang Club is one of the most moving movies I have watched in a long time. The history of South Africa is grey and somewhat cloudy for those who were to young to live through it and this movie gives a slightly grim but very accurate look into South Africa between 1990 and 1994. During this time the there were brutal attacks based on race. Apartheid....

Personally I have to thank God for the fact that I was too young to see the torture and evil that was happening in South Africa during this time! The movie shows us what really happened in the Johannesburg townships, the very townships that everyone was too affraid to venture into but where so many were trapped and defensless.

The Bang Bang Club was made up of four brave men, namely Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva, Ken Oosterbroek and Kevin Carter. I say brave because not only did they put their lives on the line everyday to get the perfect shot but they also dared to do what no other photojournalists had done before-show the world the pictures that South Africa was trying to hide!

Is there harm in showing the world graphic pictures of a bloody South Africa? Maybe. But more harm is done in pretending that it never happened. There are people that are still affected by what happened and the only way for them to come to peace with this injustice is to face the fact that it occured and move forward.

For me, the movie was a huge eye opener into the ethical debate surrounding the morals of photojournalists. I believe that it is the job of a photojournalist to capture the picture, just as it is the job of a farmer to plough and a teacher to teach. The members of the Bang Bang Club battled with the fine line between their job and humanity on a daily basis but I beleive that they did the world justice by showing them what no one really wanted to see. Afterall, how are we going to heal something that is so scarred when we all bury our heads in the ground?