Blog moving soon

I am moving my blog over to Jpelletier.com

I will continue to post here for about another month, but after that you can check me out on my portfolio website www.Jpelletier.com

CNNs false neutrality

I have another example of media mockery to criticize. I would like to enter into question an article posted on CNN.com written by Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina. The article is a piece criticizing the new economic stimulus plan. The key problem with this article that I would like to point out is a form of fake transparency used by the website. At the beginning of the article, it is noted that the article is written by Mark Sanford, and at the end, there is a note that says, "The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mark Sanford." This is a fake attempt to look transparent while pushing the opinion of Governor Sanford, and still being able to later deny approving of his opinion. Smith says that transparency is an excellent part of journalism, but if CNN really doesn't share in Governor Sanford's opinion, then why would they print the story?

In addition to this confusion of opinion, the article itself has some strange discrepancies. For example, Sanford actually criticizes a part of the bill that doesn't exist. How can he criticize something that some people only talked about? He then goes on to criticize the New Deal saying that it never worked. This is something that can be just stated. There has been arguments for decades about what really brought us out of the Great Depression, and he just off hand declares that everyone knows that it was unaffective.

This kind of false honesty and off hand assumption of opinions is pretty typical of any article. It is important that we can identify things like this.

To read the story yourself go to:http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/13/sanford.economy/index.html

Inspecting the Media

It's been a while since I've posted. The real question is why am I posting now. The answer is that I have been tasked with critiquing the media. The targets are infinite, and my ammo is educated responses. Lets have a go with my first attempt.

My first article is one from CNN. It was listed under there top U.S. stories. It is entitled "Four guy types to avoid". It is a guide listing four different kinds of guys that women should avoid. The article details the"He has children he doesn't see and/or support" guy, the "All his ex-girlfriends are crazy" guy, the "He's heavily invested in his persona" guy, and the "He's a compliment miser" guy. Basically the article is a piece of crap. I immediately assumed their would be at least one horribly inconsequential article in the "top" articles section, and I was terribly correct.

In the words of the text that I am reading, this article does not nurture, inform, or even deal very fairly with the subject matter. The article is completely from a woman's point of view, and could easily be considered demeaning to men. A similar article about women would likely never appear on CNN's website. It is for some reason fair for women to openly mock men as a gender.

Possibly the worst part of this article is the mere fact that it exists at all. It is easy to imagine several women discussing the ideas in this article. In that form it would be harmless conversation, but as a news article on a respectable news site, it is horrid to imagine them covering such a silly topic.

This article is a waste of time. Whoever decided to put it on CNN.com should be ashamed.

Finishing stuff up

Things are finally starting to slow down. I have finished all of my finals except for game engine. My Advanced Seminar project went fairly well. Of course it could have been a lot better, and I'm not happy about my artwork at all, but I am generally happy with the end product. The last thing I need to do is some work in Game Engine. Torque Game Engine is being quite sassy, and I still need to finish up some parts of my "game" for my final. It isn't going to be anything flashy. You run around an environment, collect 5 rocks, and then go through a tunnel that opens up when you collect them all. It's simple, but surprisingly complicated to implement.

On a super awesome side note. Our America's Army maps have been officially released. If you want to try my teams map, just download Americas Army, and look for the map Canyon. That's me! I have been playing it a little. It is so rewarding seeing people having fun with something you built. I only wish every project I worked on was half this awesome.

oh and I'll be posting the final version of my seminar project on my portfolio website in a couple days. It is called "Flight of the Damocles".