The Throne..Watched.

Jay-Z and Kanye West. Two of the biggest names in Hip-Hop. Brought together on one stage, in the city of Detroit. Both artists have collaborated on many pieces before. Just recently, they have decided to put out an album together, Watch The Throne.

The throne was watched Saturday at   The Palace of Auburn Hills. According to Lynn at The Palace  the show was almost sold out. She said  the venue holds around 22,000 so roughly 19,000 people attended the event.

Watch the Throne was a highly anticipated album. Whitney Parker, Farmington, said she enjoyed the album and thought the artists worked well together.The duo allowed the album to be purchased from iTunes three days earlier than in stores. (which may seem like a lifetime to music aficionados). What’s even stranger? The album never leaked. For one of the most anticipated albums of the year to never leak onto the Internet is highly unusual.

Trey Love, Novi, said he didn’t find it odd. “ These two artists command so much power, just with their names.” He also made a great point “if you bought a ticket to their concert, you got an album. For every venue that’s almost 20,000 sales. For just one venue.” The tour plans on performing over 30 shows in 26 cities.

Nevertheless, the album exceeded expectations. Love, described the album as a “cool mix of blues, hip hop and r&b”. He thought it had a wide range of sounds ranging from “ new age hip hop, oldschool hip hop and electronic music.” Two songs that a listener can hear the assortment of tones would be in Otis  and H.A.M.

It featured a wide range of artists including: Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Otis Redding and Mr Hudson. The listener can only hope that their concert would be just as good. And again, these two went above and beyond.

Besides keeping the audience waiting for almost two hours, everything seemed quite perfect at the Watch the Throne tour. Parker describes the show as “ The best concert I have ever been to!” Kanye and Jay-Z had visual elements that kept the audience interested, interacted with the audience, and had great chemistry with each other.

The concert was nothing less than an experience. The sights made the show complete. During the show there was an abundance of lights that made the show enjoyable to watch. Love said he liked that the lights went across the entire arena.

Throughout the show the twosome also used fire. That’s right. FIRE.Coming out of the stage. This visual element provided excitement for the audience. Parker said she was closer to the top of the arena and she could feel the fire every time it went off.

The duo also made great use of the mega-screens in the Palace of Auburn Hills. Throughout their show they used the two large screen to display photos and videos to complement their event. For example, during the song “Welcome to the Jungle” the duo used a video of a gazelle getting chased down by a jaguar and then eaten. Parker said she liked how the song titles were displayed on the mega-screens as well.
Jay-Z and Kanye used the space great in the Palace of Auburn Hills. The two artists performed on elevated platforms in the middle of the audience. Love said this was one of the first things he noticed. “ The platforms had sharks (projected) on them and had great use of lighting. I thought it was very cool!”

This also gave the artists a chance to have a great interaction with each other. Love said “Because Jay- Z and Kanye West have worked together for so long, they have great chemistry and it showed on stage. “

During their three hour set, they did many collaborations with each other. The two artists played off of each other nicely and used the songs as fuel to their fire. One of Jay-Z’s top hits “Big Pimpin” went well over with the audience. Not so well with Kanye. Kanye said  something to the effect of: Every time I get a girl she is a gold digger! Which was a perfect transition into one of his #1 hits “Gold Digger”.  Of course after that, Jay-Z had to come back with a #1 hit “99 Problems”.

Parker said she liked the set list they  had and enjoyed how they did songs together . In particular she liked how the artists would switch back and forth doing solo material. Love also said that he enjoyed their set and it was “ songs many people wanted to hear. They played older material but most of their collaboration album as well.”

Kanye and Jay-Z preformed Paris a record breaking seven times in the Detroit show, which broke the previous Boston record of six times. The tour plans on stopping in over 20 cities. Maybe one of these cities will finally beat the new infamous Paris record?

How to work out at home

Stefanie Dunham directs on how a correct pushup should be done and how a modified push up can be done as well. She also gives instructions on where to go for more information!

Heart Attack Grill

This story is about a new restaurant that has opened in Las Vegas. It is ironic that this restaurant has opened in “Sin City”. The restaurant is called ““Heart Attack Grill” and the story was about how the restaurant is out of the ordinary. The restaurant  makes fries in lard ,does not serve diet soda, and even has a  triple butter fat shake.

This story is being told by a voice-over narrator. The narrator even sits and has a talk with the owner of the restaurant to get his point of view as well.This could have been done more efficiently,the narrator had to be the one speaking all the time. He could have just as easily let the workers or customers speak about the “Heart Attack Grill”.

This story was extremely to the point. I think it was very clear on what the restaurant’s idea was. It was helpful that there was an anchor in the beginning of the broadcast to describe what the story was going to be about (because there is no text to help supplement the story). Also, this story was character-driven. This because this restaurant has character in itself. People will want to visit because this restaurant is an experience.

I don’t believe that this story has a clear beginning, middle or end. I believe that this is just for informational purposes and talks about the restaurant from all perspectives. Nevertheless, the story was straight and to the point.

Even though there is an anchor speaking first, the first visual is of the actual diner. I think this is a great choice because I am sure that the restaurant can get lost in the 1,000’s of different restaurants/bars/ casinos in Las Vegas. This gives the views a clear view of what the restaurant looks like.  The first sound that the viewers hear is the natural sound of Las Vegas night life. This is great as well because it keeps the viewers interested and makes them think this is in the heart of Las Vegas!

There are many different types of shots in this video to keep the viewer interested.  I do not believe that there is a sequence being used. However, I did notice that whenever there is food, there will be  a close-up of the food.This is an interesting video because there is a lot of action in this video. There is a variety of shots to keep the visual appeal (class 10/20).

Also,  there are many people in this video. However, even some of the important people are not identified.  The owner is only mentioned in the video. But when the him and the narrator are speaking, neither have identification. Nevertheless, when someone from the University of Nevada speaks, her information is on the lower half of the screen.

The pacing was perfect for this video. This is a restaurant in Las Vegas and want you to indulge in gluttony. The video needs to be a bit faster paced than other videos, which is what the viewer experiences.

Overall, I think that this video worked very well to inform its audience. I think that people who watched this video, now know what the “ Heart Attack Grill” is, where it is located, and what is served. And most importantly, if you weigh over 350 pounds, you eat free!

However, if this were my video I would have done a few things differently.  I would have made sure that there was text associated with the video.It is important to let your viewers know what your getting them into before they start watching your video. Also, it is important to tell your viewers who is speaking ( maybe even more than once).  I would have had names of important people on the screen. Finally, I would have let the customers speak more than the narrator. Its important to get their side as well.

Valley of Death

The slideshow that I found to be most interesting was about the Haiti earthquake, called The Valley of Death. This story is a clear story with a distinct beginning, middle and end.

The beginning is about digging the graves of many citizens, the middle is putting the bodies into caskets and laying them to rest, and finally the end is about a pastor putting the bodies to peace.  This story is generally about how the members of society have dealt with the passing of so many of their friends, family members and loved ones.

The first shot is men digging a mass grave. This is a very powerful shot. This sets the stage for the whole slideshow. The viewer may not know how real this tragedy may be until they see these men digging the mass grave. Then it becomes very real.

The last shot was more thought provoking. I had to ask myself why the author would want to make this the last scene of the slide show.  The last scene was of a pastor holding his head low.  This could show: sadness, disbelief,  or shame. Taking a step back and looking at the frame made the shot extreme.

All together, I believe that these photos were extremely shocking. As I had learned in class (on 10/11), photos are able to make an impact. These photos truly made an impact on me. I would have never known mass graves existed outside of  war without these photos. In addition, I also learned that photos are able to communicate emotion. These photos communicated sadness and tragedy.

The photos had a variety of shots. Some including: close-ups, medium shots and photos from different angles.  These photos added to the slide show. One of the close ups was a toe tag that was labeled “745”!.  745 people were buried. Just this one picture, puts the entire slideshow into perspective.

Not only did the slideshow have great use of photos, but there was also great use of audio. There was natural sound that included: talking, digging, music playing, singing, praying, and zipping up of body bags.  Also, there is the pastor speaking and giving his prayer. Each of these works every well in the slideshow. We can assume that the singing and music playing is part of the prayer and is part of the process of putting the bodies to rest.

Throughout the whole video there was only one caption in the beginning.  The caption helps lay the groundwork for people who may not understand the severity of the event.  I thought that the caption was extremely helpful. I think that if there had been more captions it would have taken away from the importance of the slideshow.However, the one they have used works very well.

Everything in this slideshow works every well together. The natural sound helps the viewer envision as if they were there, the caption helps the viewer grasp the severity of the event and the photos really capture the essence of everything that has been taken from these people.

I enjoyed this slideshow and thought it was very powerful. However, I may change the loudness of some the natural noise. Some noise was just men talking and it was a bit distracting. But overall, I really enjoyed this slideshow and even viewed others on the Haiti earthquake.

Good Blogging skills

Coming from Detroit, Mitch Albom is a well known name in my household. Even know Albom is very well known; it seems that his name carries more meaning in the state of Michigan. Reading over his blog, livealbom.com, it brings me back home.

There are many things I love about this blog. Albom is an excellent writer. He uses clear, concise writing, that’s really easy to understand. This type of writing is great for web because readers skim-through their articles. Also, he uses short paragraphs. This style of writing is excellent because it keeps the reader interested. Finally, his blog is interactive and uses hyperlinks. This is really great for Albom because he drives a lot of traffic to not only his site MitchAlbom.com, but also other sports related topics he is talking about.

However, I think that the articles could have embedded links. Readers have to search and find the “tags” section of the article to find other links. I believe they would be much better off just embedded. In addition, because the posting are online, there could be a lot more interactivity. Albom needs to give the reader something they cannot get in print (as stated in class).

On the livealbom.com blog, he speaks about “sports, and sports only.” However, he does write about many diverse topics other than just sports, when reporting in the Detroit Free Press.  Therefore, he has the other website. Albom says, “If you’re interested in my other stuff, thank you, bless you, but you’re in the wrong place.” Its interesting to see a writer with such passion on a topic. This give me great motivation to find something that I am truly interested in, so that I can feel free to express my opinions about it.

Albom’s blog did not have any comments.  This is because he wanted the articles to be the main focus and not the ranting sports fans. I think that this is a great idea. Sports fans have a lot of heart can voice their opinions. Albom has every right to disable to comments (readers are there to read,right?).

Another interesting blog that I have found is the Rozenblog. This is a blog that I found from searching the Morning Sun’s website (blog tab) . This blog caught my eye because it has a lot of really interesting media aspects to it that Albom’s blog did not have.

The Rozenblog has multimedia including photos, video, and even embedded links. These pieces really added something extra to the story and I believe that all online writing pieces should include some kind of multimedia.

This blog also had short paragraphs however the words often get lost because paragraphs are not indented. I think that these sections need to be much clearer and then his writing will be much clearer as well.

Also, another thing that I would change on the Rozenblog is the image/style of the blog. I find that the colors are competing with each other and the reader needs to be focused on the writing and all the work the writer has accomplished and not say to themselves “wow this is difficult to read

Furthermore, the only way that I did see the Rozenblog interacting in comments was by removing a comment. Nevertheless, many comments are not made on these stories.

Finally, if this were my blog, I would make sure that all of the links properly work.  This blog does not have an “about me”. However, it does have a link to the CMU faculty page that does not properly work. Therefore, readers do not have any information on this mystery writer.

PRSSA Social

CMU PRSSA had its first social at Island Park yesterday. The social turned out to be  quite a success! Many students came out to enjoy the free food and networking with their classmates. Students also were able to take to the e-board members in a more comfortable environment and ask questions one-on-on.

Even though not many first year students came out,  it was great to see all the faces.  CMU PRSSA is hopeful another great year with its members and we cant wait to see everyone next week at 8 in Moore Hall 108!

 

:)

Thanks for reading my first blog post!

I am hoping to continuously update regularly and keep others interested!! :X

Hope you enjoy!!