Oh, what to watch on Thursday nights!?

vs.

My two favorite television shows are on the Neilson Media Research’s Top 10 Broadcast TV programs list. Unfortunately, these two shows are also competing against each other for these ratings.

Grey’s Anatomy, airing on ABC Thursdays at 9pm, and CSI, airing on CBS Thursday nights at 9 pm, are listed as numbers 3 and 5 on Neilson Media Research’s list for the week of March 19, 2007. Against their other competition, both of these shows fair well, however, when competing against each other, Grey’s Anatomy comes out on top. If either of these shows were to change the time or the day they are aired, it would help both of their ratings because I am sure there are many people like me in the predicament of which show to watch every Thursday night. I would be one happy camper if they would move one of the shows, however, it can not be aired on Mondays at 8 or Tuesdays at 9, because my third favorite show, Dancing with the Stars is on at those times :)

Gangs of New York

AMERICA WAS BORN IN THE STREETS.

Death, corruption, and Irish immigrants fill the streets of New York. Lower Manhattan’s Five Points encompass violence and fraud and illustrate a strong sense of “survival of the fittest.” As vengeance takes over the soul of one man, the center of a town, where five roads intersect, turns worse than it has ever been before.

The motion picture, Gangs of New York, by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese was the winner of 2 Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Song and nominated for 10 Academy Awards. Leonardo Di Caprio and Daniel Day-Lewis give chilling performances that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Filled with stomach-turning gore and flagrant gang activity, Scorsese aims to create a mythical and infamous beginning to New York City.

Gangs of New York begins with a battle between two main gangs in Five Points, The Dead Rabbits and The Natives. The Dead Rabbits led by Priest Vallon, Amsterdam Vallon’s father (Leonardo Di Caprio), are a group of Irish Immigrants fighting for control of Five Points against Bill the Butcher’s Natives (Daniel Day-Lewis), who are strongly against foreign influence. After the death of his father at the hands of Bill the Butcher, Amsterdam is incarcerated and the Dead Rabbits are banished from Five Points. He returns 16 years later to avenge his father’s death by becoming an apprentice to William Cutting, otherwise known as Bill the Butcher. As a friendship is broken over a woman, Jenny (Cameron Diaz), information is leaked to The Butcher and young Vallon and his plan are revealed. After an initial battle with William Cutting, Amsterdam faces his foe once more in an epic battle between the newly re-formed Dead Rabbits and the angered Natives. While the streets of New York are taken over by an enraged mob and political corruption and racism erupt, Five Points acquires a new leader.

Scorsese’s gruesome masterpiece embodies gut-wrenching violence, passion, and deceit. It is both captivating and unbearable. A majestic, compelling, and powerful work of art.

CRASH -- into me.

Released in the spring of 2005, Crash, the winner of three Academy Awards, tells the story of peoples’ lives colliding in the city of Los Angeles. It is an exclusive tale of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Persians, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, dominant and subordinate. This motion picture depicts images of racism, prejudice, privilege, and stereotypes.

This movie captivates its audience by its presentation of impulsive behaviors and its portrayal of real interactions and situations. The audience will quickly be overcome with emotion as the lives and backgrounds of the characters are revealed; as they become more understandable, the movie becomes more riveting. Director Paul Haggis takes a profound look at racism and how often it goes unnoticed. At the same time he forces us to reflect on our own personal lives and the pictures in our heads. Whether it happened through fate, chance, coincidence, or luck, the lives of these main characters crash into one another. Due to their perceptions and assumptions, they are unable to see the real person they are interacting with, and instead concede to the stereotypical judgments.

Crash begins and ends in the same place, with a crash. In between, it explores the 36 hours prior to the devastating event. It tells the story of a black detective with a drug addict mother and criminal younger brother, a white District Attorney with a distraught wife who does not attempt to hide her racism and a Latino locksmith with tattoos who is nothing but a family man. It reveals the feelings two black young men have about discrimination and racism, while they look for cars to steal, a Persian family mistaken for Iraqis who have their store robbed and vandalized, and a Korean man who seems innocent and suspicious at the same time. Two white police officers, influenced by their own personal problems and each other and a black couple torn apart by a white privileged world.

I don’t expect that this movie, the winner of 3 Academy Awards including Best Achievement in Editing, Best Writing, and Best Motion Picture of the Year, will work any miracles. However, it will command the attention of its audience every time it is viewed. It will provide its viewers with a sense of understanding and move its audience to feel at least a slight bit of empathy and sympathy for those unlike themselves. This movie provides hope for those who view it that one day we will be able to move from dwelling on our differences to appreciating our similarities.

Media Madness

In an article from Cosmopolitan's March 2007 issue:

We'll be slaves to the media more than ever in 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. Teenage and adult Americans will spend about...

65 days watching television
8 days exploring the Internet
41 days listening to the radio
7 days reading the newspaper
5 days reading magazines
4 days reading books
______________________
= more than 4 months (approximately 3,127 hours)






WOW!

What if you had an idea that you knew would change the world?

The truth is, our history books lie to us and the internet confuses us. Our books tell us it was Vladimir Zworykin. One website states: “The Americans will tell you it was Philo Taylor Farnsworth (what a name!). The Russians and RCA will tell you it was Vladimir Zworykin. Like all complex devices, the television has many contributing inventors.” WikiAnswers. How do we find the true answer? Read the real history: Philo.

Philo T. Farnsworth is overlooked because he demonstrated normal intelligence and did nothing extraordinary in his early years; “he lacked stereotypical traits of genius” (Philo). He was a farm boy from Utah; a member of the white lower class. Yet, with only a stack of old science magazines from his family’s attic and no formal college education, this man was the first to develop technology for the television. Not only was Philo without higher education but he was also uneducated in the business world that he thrust himself into with his invention. Philo quickly became a part of the submissive group as Vladimir and RCA attempted to take advantage of him using their money and knowledge of the malicious business realm (dominance).

History teaches and illustrates that the little man doesn’t win. Without the resources it was near impossible for Philo to have the victory in this battle over the television patent. Although Philo did eventually win a lawsuit against Vladimir and RCA for the patent but not without a cost. The general public acknowledged Vladimir as the inventor, and with his public defeat, Philo became depressed and soon turned to alcohol to numb his pain. He was the little man; a small farm boy from Utah, a member of the submissive group, uneducated yet brilliant, and unfortunately lacked the voice to make himself known as the man he truly was: the inventor of the television.