Fighting Racism, One Ringtone at a Time

Alexandra Wallace is the former UCLA student who made an amazingly insensitive and unwise YouTube video about Asian students one day after the earthquake in Japan.

She realized her mistake within hours, and took her video off YouTube, but it was too late. Others reposted it and it went viral. UCLA's Chancellor made a video condemning Ms. Wallace's actions. Campus security recommended that she take her final exams at a specially-arranged place and time. Ms. Wallace apologized through the campus newspaper, and has reportedly dropped out of school.

Many have responded to the offending video. One of the most entertaining is by 23-year-old actor and songwriter Jimmy Wong, whose song "Asians in the Library" is on iTunes and is also available as a ringtone.

This is his YouTube video, which has nearly 3 million hits.

Pick Your Villains Carefully

The Cold War is over. The Soviet Union is dead. So who plays the enemy in a remake of the 1984 Cold War drama "Red Dawn"?

For MGM in 2009, the answer was simple: the Chinese. Just substitute one really big communist country for another.

By 2011, that didn't look like such a good idea. China is a rapidly-developing superpower that allows only 20 foreign films into its theaters each year. For MGM and other movie distributors, angering the Chinese government might mean "Red Dawn" and all their other movies would be blocked from Chinese theaters.

Enter the post-production miracle of digital editing. Take out references to the Chinese as aggressors, take out the Chinese flags and uniforms. Substitute North Korea, a country so poor and closed to the West that the movie industry has no money at stake there. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Making Sure USA Today Isn't Yesterday's News

This is a tough time to run a newspaper. Print circulation is dwindling, print advertising is plummeting, audiences are aging, and online news advertising revenue is anemic.

So how does the leadership of USA Today plan to update the print publication and get the publication (or at least parts of it) onto smartphones and iPads? Very carefully, Yahoo! News reports.

Transfer Center News

Because nearly all MC101 students intend to transfer, Your Humble Blogger routinely posts e-mails from the Transfer Center. This one just came in from Kevin Meza...

Just wanted to update everyone on some transfer news:

---We have added new books to our Transfer Center Library covering
topics such as law, business, and medical school admissions. We have
also updated our college admissions guides.

---Four-year colleges are starting to post their admissions
decisions. Please refer students who were denied admission so we can assess
their situation. We have been able to reverse the admissions
decisions for many of our students.

---Our Northern California Spring Break College Tour is full (53
students). Thanks for your support in promoting the trip.

---We will be hosting a college fair on April 19 from 10-1 and 5-7 in
Plaza Vaquero.

---Remind students to check our website
www.glendale.edu/transfercenter and to add us on Facebook for
up-to-date information.

Thank you!



Kevin Meza
Transfer Center Coordinator
Glendale Community College
1500 N. Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208
(818) 240-1000 ext. 5820

Is Disrupting Free Speech Also Free Speech?

Political passions often flare on university campuses. And free speech generally does not mean shouting down a speaker. But should UC Irvine students who disrupted a speech by the Israeli Ambassador be convicted of misdemeanor criminal charges? NPR reports on the upcoming trial of what some are calling "The Irvine 11."

Free Speech: Where Does It End?

We know that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives us the right to criticize government, express disturbing ideas, and create art and entertainment that some find offensive. But how about picketing the funeral of a dead soldier by a church whose tactics many Americans would find simply outrageous?

By an 8-1 vote last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that even this speech is protected by the First Amendment. NPR reports.

It's Not Nice to Gawk at Car Crashes...

... Nor is it nice to watch the antics of crazy people for personal enjoyment. But aren't we all doing just that as Charlie Sheen's all-too-public meltdown occurs in front of the world's cameras and microphones? NPR discusses the ethics of the Charlie Sheen story.

Entertainment: Friend or Foe of Reality?

Mass Media has agenda-setting power. For example, if a television series dramatizes the lives of compulsive gamblers, public awareness of compulsive gambling as a social and psychological problem will increase. That doesn't mean that people will agree on what, if anything, to do about compulsive gamblers, but they will be more likely to take the problem seriously than if the TV show had never existed.

Today's Medianote looks at the agenda-setting power of the film The King's Speech in regard to raising awareness about stuttering and the hardships faced by stutterers. According to this Los Angeles Times story, an increased number of real-life stutterers have sought help from speech therapists as a result of the movie.

Just for fun, we finished this Medianote by comparing television's fictional Greendale Community College with real-life Glendale Community College.

Scholarship Opportunity!

This email came to Your Humble Blogger today from Susan Borquez-Dougherty of our Scholarship Office. Looks like a great opportunity for Mass Comm 101 students...


Hi all:

The SEER Team is offering three $1000 scholarships to our students. The one and only criteria is that the students write a 500 word essay. There are three topics to choose from. If you have a student who is a great writer, please refer him to the websites below. They may apply to only one of the sites.



1. http://www.dish-systems.com/education/scholarship.php
500 word essay contest w/ suggested topics like whether broadcast news dead or how has TV tech changed in your lifetime



2. http://www.satelliteinternetpros.com/scholarship.php
500 word essay contest w/ suggested topics like societal impact of mobile tech, or net neutrality and free speech



3. http://www.revzilla.com/college-scholarship-contest
500 word essay contest on motorcycle riding with suggested topics such as a favorite adventure, how riding will affect one's life long term in terms of lifestyle.

Driven to Sell

Carmakers are particularly interested in making a good impression on young adults. Not only might they sell them a car, they might create a brand loyalty that lasts a lifetime. How to market cars to young people has changed along with the media they frequent. NPR reports.

Street Wise

Google Street View is a remarkable tool. But not everyone welcomes it. Citizens worry about invasion of privacy. Governments worry about national security. Civil libertarians worry about government surveillance. These concerns were discussed in a recent Los Angeles Times article.