Quick Hits – Media Impact on Children

Does Media have an impact on our children? This question is no longer a question but something validated through numerous studies over time. Yet why is it that most families continue to allow our children and teens to sit hours on end in front of a TV screen or bother to read up on or screen movies before allowing them to watch? Is it because of the convenience of using the TV as the ultimate babysitter? Is it because we don’t bother to really think about it and assume it our children and teens would know the difference of what is right and wrong? Is it because we have gotten used to the violence and sexual imagery used in almost every single TV show and Movie? Every single one of these points are probably true. We all know how much media affects us, how much more for the internet generation where every piece of media is only a click away?

I had such a fellow in my kindergarten who was very sensitive to television watching. In his play he always identified enemies, be they sharks, monsters or other children, and fortified himself and attacked them. Gradually, as TV was minimized in his life, (unfortunately it was never eliminated), his play became more social and less aggressive. However, several times during the year he visited his grandparents for a week at a time, where the TV was on most of the time. He came back in full attack mode. At such times he would push children down on the playground, and he would say to me, “They were going to hurt me,”

Continue Reading

How Safe are Social Networks?

In June, Common Sense Media released a comparative analysis the Internet safety features on the most popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, YouTube, Club Penguin among others.

Though there has been significant improvements over time in building safety features for the users, more than half of the sites were deemed not adequate. Also many of the features are not easy to find or too obscure for the users. However it is still too easy for someone (think: children or teens) to lie about their age or access bad or inappropriate sites or videos.

Continue Reading

If the World was 100 People..

If the world consists of 100 people..

6 People own 59% of the entire wealth of the community

13 are starving or malnourished

 

If you have a refridgerator for your food

A closet for your clothes

A bed..

A roof..

You are richer than 75% of the world.

 

If you have a bank account you are one of the 30 wealthiest in the world

 

18 Struggle to live on $1.00 a day

53 Struggle to live on $2.00 a day

 

Continue Reading

Themes of Wall-E

All about the Themes

Wall-E was definitely a Pixar quality film. I learned never to doubt Pixar no matter how peculiar or odd the trailers may be. I once questioned how good a movie could be about a talking fish. I was immediately blown away by Finding Nemo. In the same way, when I saw the trailer for some animated super hero movie I thought, could they really pull this off? It was incredible (that’s right i said it). So when a movie about talking cars came out I said, forget it I trust Pixar, it’ll be great. It was. When Wall-E’s trailer first came out about some small robot that barely talks.. I was game. As expected of Pixar, the story was well written, the CG animation was truly amazing especially in the way they humanize these robots, but what made this film special was its themes. No I am not talking about the romantic aspect of it (in fact I thought it was a bit too much) – but the themes of loneliness, relationships, comfort and materialism. Without giving away any of the story, the movie really highlights where our society is headed. Perhaps the extremity of what we see in the movie will never quite come true, but it does highlight the comfort driven mentality that all of us has. In fact in a span of 700 years (which the movie depicts), who knows, perhaps its very possible.Comfort is what drives us to do much of what we do. We study hard and try to beat everyone else in school so we could graduate with top honors. Why? So we could work hard and get a great job so we could live in comfort. It is common in our society to leave family or friends behind to go to a new school or a job. Parents may be sad, and friends upset but ultimately it is almost a given that leaving relationships like this is the right thing to do because hey, you have to earn a great living right? Perhaps it is due to technology and the ease of travel and communication, but honestly does it have to be this way? Is it really wrong for us to forgo a going to a good college or pursuing a great job because we value our relationships just that much more?

Continue Reading

Ironman and Prince Caspian – Clean Cut or Not?

 

Ironman

Honestly this movie didn’t peak my interest when I first saw the trailer. In fact the trailer wasn’t that great and looked like it would turn out to be a mindless action film with a poor plot. However after seeing stellar reviews across the board including a 93% rating in rotten tomatoes and A- rating in Yahoo, I went to watch this film. It ended up being a very well made movie. The plot was good story of redemption, the acting was great, the pace and mood was well controlled and the film work was well done. I also left thinking that it was a relatively clean movie opposed to all the movies that have come out these days. Violence was somewhat tame and sexual scenes very minimal. However that really got me thinking.

Continue Reading

Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley – Free Courses & Discussions on Media

 

Next Session: 5/16 @ 7:30-9:30PM

Gracepoint Fellowship Church – Alameda

2000 Northloop Drive. Alameda, CA 94502

 

 

New sessions start May 16th. Couple new courses as well as continuation of several popular classes. These courses are free, requires no commitment, and food is provided. Meet friendly people and discuss important matters about life!

 

Several of these courses dive directly into the impact of media on our culture and our worldview. “God in Media” touches about how specific worldviews are underly every film and how to dissect and understand the message. “More than a Face” deals with how Media directly influences our view of beauty and impacts our view of self worth. If you haven’t seen the fantastic videos by Dove in regards to the perception of beauty see our previous posts: Distorted Beauty in Media & Media Impact on Children. The new course on Worldview will also most likely touch upon how the way we view the world has changed in our time. Though not specific to Meda – it is clear that all forms of media from Music to Film, has had a huge impact on the way we perceive what is right and wrong and what is considered the norm. Of course it is a two way street in that as our perceptions change, so does the messages in TV & Movies as it caters to what we (or the directors & writers) believe.

 

You are not “required” to sign up and can drop in anytime, but if you are certain you would like to come you can sign up in the link below. It’s just courtesy so they can plan room allocations and food quantities. I’ll be there so just look for a “Paul”, would love to chat!

 

Course description snippets below. Go to the signup page for more info: Signup Page: Life Matters – Bay Area

 

  • Love & Respect
    • … Find out how the truth of Ephesians 5:33: “Husbands must love their wives and wives must respect their husbands,” can make a difference in every marriage.
  • Are you there God: in Media?
    • Learn about how different worldviews are presented to audiences of television, film, and news media. We’ll learn how to dissect creative decisions that were made to reach an “effect” and examine the underlying values and emotions that can often go unnoticed…
  • Tough Questions
    • Most of us have a picture of God in our minds that we have drawn, usually based on a series of ideas, feelings and past experiences from our life. We will explore and discuss answers to common questions people have about God, Christianity, the Bible and Jesus…
  • The World as We Know It
    • Framing Your Worldview DVD curriculum by world renown Rick Warren and Chuck Colson, this course will examine worldviews as they relate to the most important questions of our day. We will explore such key issues as truth, tolerance, terrorism, reconciliation and the purpose of life…
  • More Than a Face
    • In our media-based society where most of us have grown up watching hours of TV and movies and advertisements are everywhere we look, this session will explore how the media affects our self-image…

 

Ques? Leave a Comment.

—-

Sponsored by “Praxis” the Adult Group in Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley. Pastor Ed Kang & Kelly Kang lead this Berkeley Church located in 2000 North Loop Rd in Alameda CA. This Church serves UC Berkeley Campus and the Eastbay Area.

Continue Reading

Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley – Free Course on Media Worldview

 

Next Session: 3/25 @ 7:30

Gracepoint Fellowship Church – Alameda

2000 Northloop Drive. Alameda, CA 94502 

 

For the Bay Area Folks. Free Course in examining the different worldviews found in media especially on hollywood’s portrayal of God vs. Myths, Christianity vs. Atheism, and Life Values. This course is free and open to anyone who wants to check it out. There are several other courses called Stress Less, Love & Respect, Are you there God in Science, and Tough Questions.Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley – Life Matter Courses. There is a total of three sessions, but they don’t necessarily build on each other.Here is the excerpt from their signup page. The sessions are held in Alameda.

 

  • Are you there God: in Media? 
    • Learn about how different worldviews are presented to audiences of television, film, and news media. We’ll learn how to dissect creative decisions that were made to reach an “effect” and examine the underlying values and emotions that can often go unnoticed. Understand how to clearly critique today’s media outlets and the recent media trends present in our marketplace (such as the Disney Corporation)

Ques? Leave a Comment. 

—-

Sponsored by “Praxis” the Adult Group in Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley. Pastor Ed Kang & Kelly Kang lead this Berkeley Church located in 2000 North Loop Rd in Alameda CA. This Church serves UC Berkeley Campus and the Eastbay Area.

Continue Reading

Untitled – Simple Plan Music Video – Permeating Effect of “Sin”

Untitled - Simple Plan - How Could This Happen To Me

Simple Plan – Untitled – How Could This Happen to Me

This video is called Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me) by Simple Plan. It is a powerful music video. You can feel the feeling of regret and pain of having done something incredibly wrong. Though this video is mainly focused on the regret and consequences of drunk driving I want to highlight a scene that may be easily brushed off as something just “artistic”. I am referring to the scene near the end of the video of the family members flying across the screen. This is such a poignant scene. At first it may seem odd and wild, but this is what I would consider the permeating effect of sin. It is so tempting to isolate sin as effecting the “sinner”, but the truth is – it effects everyone around him or her.

Our Sins Permeating to Others

This video may be highlighting an extreme example of death, but this is true of any sin or wrong. We live a life in constant contact and asserting various impact (whether we like it or not) on those around us. Every small decision to do right or wrong, to be selfish or loving, to reach out or hold back effects the trajectory of our character. Little by little our character moves toward one direction or the another and throughout that whole process we are effecting the people around us. Our character defines the way we treat other people, what we may say to someone around us and the very way we behave around others. Their perception of life, perception of people, of love, of relationships, of perhaps the religion you stand for or whatever “category” you fall into all is shaped in the mind of others by you. There is an adage for Christians that says  that nonbelievers don’t read the bible, they read Christians. This is true for all things. Whether its parents, friends or complete strangers we live in a web of relationships. We may want to believe that my life is my life and I can do whatever I want with it, but do we really live in the bubble called “my life” as much as we think? Could be true that the very decisions you make now will effect others as well?

Either way, the video itself is great and I am sure most people can relate to the sense of regret over things one has done and can’t take back.

Get Simple Plan MP3 Here

Simple Plan – Untitled Music Video

Download the Simple Plan Untitled Music Video

It’s $0.99 – Untitled - Simple Plan

Find the Simple Plan Album Here:

Originally released as “Untitled” as a single, then released again under the “Still Not Getting Any” album.
Sorry couldn’t get the link to work right, so just type in Simple Plan then find the Still Not Getting Any album below!

Download the Simple Plan Music Video Here

Continue Reading

Casting Crown – Does Anybody Hear Her

Casting Crowns - LifeSong

Casting Crown – LifeSong

Casting Crown’s “Does Anybody Hear Her” from the album LifeSong, reveals the responsibility of not only Christians (as portrayed in the video) but people in general to live a life in consideration of those around them. There are a lot of people who struggle through life, go through hardships and many who will sooner or later struggle with the meaning of life. Life has a way of asserting reality and the sooner we come to grips with the broken world we live in, the better we are in dealing with it. Of course along the way there is a desperate need to reach for something or someone outside of ourselves because we weren’t made to go at it alone. It’s not easy to open oneself to the trouble of others, let alone strangers but this video highlights how we are all called to love.

Get “Does Anybody Hear Her” Here


Casting Crown is a contemporary Christian band. This video is obviously not intended to bash on church goers, rather highlighting the brokenness of the world and the desperate need for Christians to take heed of the call of needing to love those around them.

Continue Reading

New Dove Beauty Campaign “Onslaught” Video

 

Video focuses on a child’s face than proceeds to show seemingly a hundred ads in a matter of 20 seconds showing the “onslaught” of media that a child sees in regards to what is considered beauty. The ads vary from skin product commericals, cosmetic surgeries, diet ads, skinny models dancing, provocative ads on the streets and so on. Only 5% of children consider themselves beautiful. I am not surprised. Please be aware there are a few provocative sexual imagery shown (ex. models dancing). The clips themselves are only a fractional of a second to 2 seconds long.

Continue Reading

Distorted Perception of Beauty

There is no explanation needed for this one. The video speaks for itself. What is it about our culture that shapes our perception of what define beauty when it comes to people? Why are people treated differently for the way they look? Why does the way one look tie so heavily with how we feel about ourselves? Think about the “beautiful people” in Movies, TV Shows, Print Ads… Enjoy.

Continue Reading

Nickelback – Savin’ Me [Music Video]

Nickelback - All the Right ReasonsNickelback – Savin’ Me

By Paul Lee

No explanation needed. This Music Video by Nickelback called “Savin’ Me” paints a poignant picture of how life is finite. It awakes the viewers to the certainty of death and how none of us know when it will come.

Just imagine if you could see what the character can see. How would you view others if you knew the limited time you had with them? How would you live your life if you were constantly reminded of how finite your life really is? If you knew you only had a couple years left? But the more important fact is this – we CAN’T see it. We do not know when our life will end. We convenient live our lives ignoring this fact and choosing to live as if we will live forever. So how should we live then? What kind of questions should we ask and get answered before our time is up. Or do we ignore this fact just because we can’t plainly see it as the character does.

Have you thought about how short life is, and the repercussion it SHOULD have on your life and how you view things like money, career, and what is worth giving your life to?

See it for yourself.

Get Nickelback – Savin’ Me Here

 

Nickelback is an excellent band with good themes in lot of their songs. Have a listen.

 

Continue Reading